Günther Schützenhöfer: 60 Years: Online Exclusive

Wishing Günther Schützenhöfer the happiest 60th birthday.

The abstractions of everyday objects that define Günther Schützenhöfer’s oeuvre are anything but simple. Rendered in shades of graphite grey, occasionally punctuated by color, his drawings turn the mundane into the monumental. In the artist’s hands, forms are both instantly recognizable and radically transformed. Through dense layers of penciled lines, Schützenhöfer constructs shape, weight, and movement—flattened objects seem to hover between stillness and animation. Works like Dinosaur (2008) playfully reconfigure anatomy and proportion, while Tractor (2023) and Airplane (2024) are stripped of superfluous detail, rendered with bold economy and rhythmic texture.

This online exhibition, launched to commemorate Schützenhöfer’s landmark birthday, brings together a selection of eight works never before seen or offered in the U.S. Each drawing radiates the artist’s distinct visual language—spare, expressive, and visually assertive.

Schützenhöfer was born in 1965 in Mödling, Austria, and first arrived at the Gugging Clinic at age nine. Located on the wooded outskirts of Vienna, Gugging has, since the 1950s, evolved from a psychiatric hospital into one of the most influential centers for art brut in the world. In 1999, Schützenhöfer became a resident of the House of Artists, a dedicated residence and studio for Gugging artists, and has continued to live and create there ever since. Gugging’s transformation was catalyzed by Dr. Leo Navratil, whose use of art as a diagnostic tool revealed extraordinary creative talents among the patients. This discovery led to the global recognition of the “Gugging Artists,” embraced by Jean Dubuffet as exemplars of art brut.

Schützenhöfer embodies this lineage while asserting a singular vision. He visits Galerie Gugging regularly, working at his self-claimed desk with discipline and devotion—transforming the ordinary into something quietly extraordinary.

Photo by Martin Vukovits